GreenThunderNS

This is a spoiler-free review

It turns out, of course, that the unseen world has a very twisted dark side controlling it that everyone just chooses to ignore. Jerks.

Our main character Sydney, a previously unknown (and super bad ass) outsider, comes out of the shadows, literally, to reveal the forgotten corruption and set things right in the unseen world.

Also there's a serial killer who steals the bones of dead women to take their magic, and houses that transform themselves and speak to you.

Read this book and then read it one more time. The ending had me torn, but honestly with a title like this, you can't expect everyone to ride off into the sunset.

This was a phenomenal and satisfying end to a riveting and intense trilogy. Would recommend.

This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets

The Punch Escrow is a Hard Sci-fi novel that takes place in the year 2147 when teleportation is a common means of transportation and totally, definitely safe! Don't even worry about it.

Written by Tal M. Klein, The Punch Escrow is his very first novel as well as the first novel under Geek and Sundry. As a nerd, as well as a Geek And Sundry fan, I was very pleasantly surprised to hear it was under their stamp and that they were doing books now. This one in particular was a great first choice and I can see why it won it's Ink Shares contest.

The Punch Escrow made me question who I was and what makes me the person that I think I am. Is it your physical body that makes you you or is it the combination of your brain, your memories and your experiences? I think the question of whether or not your body or your brain makes you who you are is an important question in today's political climate and one I didn't have a hard time answering for myself.

Tal does a phenomenal job at building this future earth in a way that seems accurate and entirely plausible. There's a lot of scientific jargon and theories, but it's broken down for you with simple explanations in these cool footnotes, which is a neat idea I hadn't seen before. There's a number of them throughout the book and, while I enjoyed most, I found a number of times that I'd stop, read them, get taken out of the story a bit, jump back in, and the story would just explain it again but in fewer words. I liked them over all, but some felt redundant. 

The story for me drew a lot of comparisons to Blake Crouch's Dark Matter which I'm sure gets tossed around a lot. This isn't a complaint, but rather something to note. Fans of Dark Matter will thoroughly enjoy this book. While The Punch Escrow deals with teleportation doppelgangers instead of parallel earths, there's definitely some interesting crossover in ideas.

Overall I thought this story was super fun, extremely well researched and I enjoyed the bit at the end where we got to hear from the physicist who helped create this future earth. Definitely a book I recommend checking out.

This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets

I first discovered Matt's books several years ago when I happened upon The Humans at my local book store. It sounded fun and  there was a dog on the cover, so I was really left with no choice but to buy it. By the time I'd closed the book it'd easily become my new all-time favourite and I was determined to hunt down and read everything he'd ever written. I mean like, within reason. Nothing weird.

How to Stop Time tells the story of Tom Hazard (great name) who's not necessarily immortal, but ages at a fraction of the speed of a normal human, but it's also so much more than that.

Like The Humans, How to Stop Time is much deeper than you'd anticipate going into it unless you're already familiar with Matt Haig's work. At it's core, it's a beautiful story about life, relationships, love, and what truly makes us who we are.

Aging at a fraction of the normal rate and living for hundreds of years sounds delightful, but less so when you're forced to choose between 400 years of loneliness and watching the people you love and care about grow old and die over and over again.

As per usual, it's beautifully written, I could not put it down. When I finally did, it left me feeling satisfied and pining for more. It's been a couple of months since I read this and it's still a book I think about all the time. 

How to Stop Time (like all of Matt's other work) is a book I cannot recommend enough. Also, the cover is gorgeous and it's already being turned into a movie staring Benedict Cumberbatch, so there's that.

This review is spoiler-free
Read on In The Sheets

The Word is Murder is the first book in a new murder mystery series staring Anthony Horowitz as himself alongside Detective Hawthorne who has tasked “Tony” with writing a true crime detective series about his case(s). 

It sounds like it shouldn't work, but it does and it's awesome. After reading Magpie Murders which was another really meta take on murder mystery (as it's a book within a book that references the other book as well as itself) I didn't expect anything less than brilliance and ordered this the day it was released in the UK.

Horowitz writes and organizes the book in such a way that his real characters and events combine effortlessly with his fictional characters and events to make the story seem that much more real and compelling.  You know you're reading fiction, but the fictional characters seem so real and developed that you often find yourself questioning whether or not they exist and if the events actually happened. For example, there's an actor who appears throughout the novel whose IMDB page I looked for on more than one occasion. It doesn't exist. I saved you a Google search.

I can't stress enough how good this book is. Anthony's work on the Sherlock Holmes series and Trigger Mortis were good, but his original murder mysteries and characters are some next level shit, for lack of a better term.

I was elated when I got to the back of the book and realized this was the start of a series and there was more to come. I was then immediately depressed because I likely have to wait a year for more.

For the record, while I loved this book immensely, I'm still not a fan of the detective as a human being (at least what I know about him which, oddly, isn't a lot), but he's a phenomenal detective which just speaks volumes to Anthony's writing

Buy the book, ‘nuff said.

I think this is the fastest I've read a book in many years. It was fantastical art. Everything about it was enchanting and engulfing. It's a classic. I wanted to absorb every word and detail. It might be one of my favourite books I have ever read. 

This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets

The Impossible Fortress is a book I'd seen around online and decided to pick up on a whim while at Chapters. All I knew going in was that this was a love story to the 80's and, while at 27 I just missed the 80's, I was still really into the idea.

The book is a super cute coming of age story about a couple of young high school nerds (I could relate) that gets complicated real fast. Jason manages to capture the vibe and nostalgia of the decade, without shoving references down your throat for the sake of it and interrupting the narrative, in the way I felt Ready Player One did. While there are plenty of references throughout, they all feel exactly relevant to the story.

I loved every single character in this book and every turn the story took. After the first couple of chapters I figured I knew what I was in for, I was totally wrong and pleasantly surprised. The Impossible Fortress takes multiple turns that I didn't see coming and each one added an unexpected depth to the narrative. 

Overall, I highly recommend The Impossible Fortress. Jason has done a phenomenal job for his first novel, it's an incredibly fun ride and a super quick read at just under 300 pages. 

Do recommend. Would read again.

This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets

It has been a while! A couple of month hiatus for both my book reviews and my podcast, which will also be back in the near future. For the unexpected delay, I apologize, but I'm coming back with an awesome Mystery / Crime / Thriller.

A Map of the Dark is the first book in a new series called The Searchers which follows Elsa, an FBI agent and leading expert on missing children cases. 

While dealing with her own personal issues, Elsa is called onto a case because “she's the best in business” and gets drawn into search for a missing teen that soon grows out of control.

I'll admit this sounds like a billion other books I've read in the past, we've definitely all seen this before. Several of the twists I saw coming a mile a way, but it was an effortless read that drew me out of a reading slump, and I could not put it down. It even still managed to surprise me a few times, I did not see the final twist coming. 

I think Elsa is a delightful and relatable character (though there is a frozen reference I definitely rolled my eyes at). She's a woman with a lot of depth who I grew to adore and I'm excited to see where her series goes. If you're into crime thrillers, this is a must read with a ton of potential.

Not thrilled. Literally the slowest thriller I've ever read and super predictable. I don't get it.

This book was phenomenal. One of my favorites by rick so far. Starts quick and never stops.

This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets

As a long time reader and fan of Rick Mofina's I was beyond excited to get my hands on this arc of Last Seen, his latest stand alone crime thriller that goes on sale Feb 27th.

Anyone who knows Rick Mofina's work is familiar with the usual 3 or 4 book series that follows a crime reporter working to solve various cases they become entangled with. In this new stand alone, a crime reporter's family becomes the case instead. 

Last Seen follows Chicago reporter Cal Hudson after the disappearance of his son, Gage. Together with his wife, Faith, they work with police against the clock to locate him knowing how crucial the first few hours are in any missing child investigation.

As things wear on, details emerge regarding both Cal and Faith forcing the investigation to take a dark and unexpected turn.

I was super happy to read something a little different from Rick Mofina and, to be perfectly frank, I think this is my new favourite book of his and potentially my favourite book so far of 2018. The year has just gotten started, but it's gonna be hard to beat. 

This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets

All Those Explosions is the first book published under Tor by Canadian author James Alan Gardner.

I wanna start by saying this book is bizarre, but in the best possible way. It takes place on an alternate earth where superheros or “Sparks” are possible, and the rich can sell their souls to be super-powered demons and ghouls and were-beasts known as Darklings.

The book takes place in Waterloo around the University of Waterloo campus and some other familiar locations in the region. It's very unusual for a book to take place here and was very surreal to read considering I live in Waterloo. It's like seeing a movie that was filmed in your city except it also takes place in your city, and it's filled with demons and superheroes and destruction. 

The way the book is formatted is super (no pun intended) unique and really gives it a comic book feel while still remaining a fun novel.

ATEWSEF follows a very diverse and well represented group of 4 UW students who accidentally become sparks and set out to protect Waterloo Region. Which by itself is hilarious to type. This is a hell of an origin story.

I really enjoyed the book, it's totally worth a read, and I can't wait to hear what other people have to say about it.

This is quite easily the best book series I've read in the last decade. It was perfect and the characters were perfect. I didn't want it to end. It did anyway. Anoshe.

This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets

I picked up this book on a whim while getting shampoo at Walmart, the cover was rad and I really wanted to read a good thriller. I came home, however, with far more than the thriller and shampoo I went in for (and not because I overspent).

Let me start by saying that Fierce Kingdom is, without a doubt, an edge-of-your-seat page turner. Within a few paragraphs I knew I was hooked and would be reading the book in one or two sittings. What I didn't expect was how deeply it would strike a chord with me.

The book follows a Mom at the zoo with her young son when an active shooter opens fire shortly before closing. The entire book takes place over a few short, terrifying hours.

For the last year, my Mom has been quite ill and battling cancer. Though things are now starting to look up, she's had a couple of close calls. While Fierce Kingdom is a thriller it's equally so, if not more so, a book about the unconditional love of a mother and the ends to which she'll go to protect her child.

Even at my Moms worst in the past year, she's been more worried about me than herself, and reading this book right in the middle of all that really hit home. It's not that I didn't already know my Mom loved me unconditionally, I of course did. Fierce Kingdom just showed it in a way I hadn't considered it before.

I know unconditional love in the sense that I love my parents and my family and my dog unconditionally, but love for a child is different in a way I can't fully understand being a single young male without kids.

During a really rough time in my life, this book made me think about things a little deeper and appreciate my Mom and her unconditional love a little bit more. That's an easy 5 stars in my books. No pun intended.

Note to Gin Phillips if she reads this: Thank you.
Note to anyone reading this: If you can, hug your Mom. Or Call her. Or just take a minute to appreciate the person she was or is.

This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets

I'll admit going into this book that I was a bit skeptical it could live up to everything it claimed to be, “horror meets fantasy meets historical fiction”. That's never easy to pull off. In reality, it far exceeded every one of my expectations. Throughout the course of the book you can really feel the passion that went into it and tell that it's more than just an awesome book about werewolves, it meant something to the person writing it. Though it's also definitely an awesome book about werewolves!

At first glance, the main character, Poldek Tacit seems like your stereotypical male protagonist. An emotionless brute, hardened over decades of witnessing unspeakable things and atrocities. I'll admit I rolled my eyes a bit at first, but quickly took it back.

Through a series of flashbacks, you really get to know Tacit and how he came to be the way he is. Tarn pulls back each rough layer over the course of the book and reveals a character that has far more substance than I've come to expect from similar works. At times it felt more like it spoke to humanity and what makes people who they are, rather than just a look into who Tacit is and has become.

What does it mean to be human? Are we really that different than the wolves? I often felt myself questioning not only this but also who the real heroes and monsters of the book were.

I want to draw comparisons between The Damned and other novels I've read to give you an idea of what to expect, but that's far more difficult to do than I anticipated. Angels and Demons comes to mind, but only in the sense of Religion and historical accuracy. There's a bit of a Van Helsing vibe, but no vampires. The Damned really is it's own unique thing and unlike any other books I've read.

The plot is thick, fast paced, unique, historically accurate and creative. There's a tonne of setup to what I expect will be an amazing trilogy. On more than one occasion I had to set the book down and think, as it reignited a lot of my historical curiosities. I'd find myself online at 2am reading about the history of the Vatican, the great war and inquisitors, which is not entirely unlike me, but something I haven't done in some time.

In all honesty, I could sit here and talk about the first book in The Darkest Hand trilogy for several more paragraphs, but you should really just go and read it. More than once I was surprised by an unexpected plot development. Also, Sandrine is a bad ass. I really hope to see more of her in the next couple of books. She's a strong female character with a hell of a lot of potential. #TeamSandrine

This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets

What a trip. It should come as no surprise to anyone that the new Andy Weir (which my computer refuses to stop auto-correcting to “Weird”) book is awesome. It's fun, exciting, and f*cking hilarious.

Artemis follows our main character, a bad ass Arab woman named Jazz. who grew up in Artemis- the first city on the moon. She moved to Artemis with her family when she was 6, and is now the moon's number 1 smuggler.

As the novel unfolds, a new gig gets Jazz dragged into a governmental conspiracy involving organized crime and Big Aluminum. With nowhere else to turn, she's forced to enlist the help of a few friends to try and save the city itself and it's entire population of Artemisians.

Not only is the story awesome, but the characters and the science are equally incredible and fascinating. The city feels like a main character. Not only can I visualize it, I feel like I know my way around it and could navigate the city without the help of the map we get at the front of the book.

There were definitely a few loose ends at the end of Artemis, and I hope there's a reason they weren't tied up. I'd love another book in this series! There's a lot of potential and a lot of places this could go in future novels. No pun intended.

This is easily one of the best books of the year, and could make an amazing movie if Artemis goes the way of The Marian.

Definitely messy,but a good intro into the Discworld

I did enjoy the book, but it was pretty predictable. Would definitely read more Patterson though.

This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets

Recreance, released earlier this year, is the first book in The Aeternum Chronicles and follows Oren as he escapes his home city with a quirky mystery-man after his parents are murdered. - Stay with me.

Together, after reuniting with his best friend after many years in the desert, they have to work to save not only themselves but also the citizens of New Arcadia. - Really, stay with me.

I know what you're thinking. Probably what I was thinking. “Troubled boys parents die and he and his friends have to save the city” we've all read that a billion times. It's cliche and overdone and getting annoying. All true. But believe me when I tell you that this one was different. Actually. I absolutely went into this rolling my eyes, but I could not put it down. I read it in a day, and enjoyed it immensely.

The world building is expertly done and the creatures that H.G. Chambers came up with, both in the desert and within the city are simply bad ass. (Spoiler? I don't think so. It all happens very quickly. Probably why it was so hard to put down!).

The Whole concept is really cool and is also, unexpectedly, a take on population control and what that would look like in a universe where everyone is biologically immortal. Count me in.

All in all, it was honestly awesome, I can't recommend it enough and I'm excited to see what H.G. Chambers comes up with for book 2.

This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets

This is a book I have been waiting an eternity for (I'm not even sorry for that pun). I've been a supporter of Caitlin's since she had just a few hundred subscribers (now 200,000+ and growing) on her YouTube channel, Ask a Mortician, and am so lucky to have been able to read this a bit early.

Upon the release of her debut novel, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Stories from the Crematory, I immediately purchased it and read it in a single sitting, this book was no different. Caitlin is the only person I've ever been a patron of on Patreon and this is the first book I had ever pre-ordered (though W.W. Norton was nice enough to send me an advanced copy for review, I still wanted to support the book).

Given all of those things and my history with Caitlin's work, I had a lot of expectations for this new book. I was overjoyed when it was announced on her channel and have patiently awaiting it ever since. That being said, it was approximately 1.5 Billion times better than I had expected it to be (the illustrations alone are jaw-dropping).

From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death is exactly what it sounds like. It chronicles Caitlin traveling the world and exploring the death rituals of various cultures across it. She does an amazing job through her writing of balancing a heavy topic like death with her brilliant sense of humor. The humor is never distasteful in anyway, it works quite well. The serious moments are serious, and the rest is just fun and educational.

This book is, inside and out, indisputable proof that death can be beautiful. Caitlin observes and describes many death rituals in the most respective way possible, contrasts them with the death industry in North America, and showcases the ways people here are trying to improve death culture, our relationship with death, and the way we interact with our own dead.

While reading this book, I had many conversations with friends and loved ones about death and, while some found a few of the stories in this book to be “creepy” (they're not, they're beautiful), they all seemed to agree that the way we handle death, by not handling it at all, leaves something to be desired. 

I think reading books like Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and From Here to Eternity should be mandatory. Caitlin is on a very difficult journey of changing the way a lot of stubborn people view death, and these books are a massive step in the right direction. For that, I thank her.

Read on In The Sheets

This will be a spoiler-free review of a great book that was well worth the wait.

As a huge fan of the original Hater trilogy, I was beyond excited when David announced he was writing three new books that took place in the same universe, albeit from another perspective. I've been anticipating this book ever since and can now say with complete certainly, I was not let down or disappointed. It fully lived up to my expectations and has made me nostalgic for the original trilogy, which I plan to start re-reading again shortly.

Where the first 3 books followed Danny on his journey through a world turned upside down by this vicious “Outbreak”, One of Us Will Be Dead by Morning follows a different group of people from the opposite perspective. As it follows the same timeline, this trilogy starts right at the beginning of the onslaught where Hater did.

As stated in the synopsis, a group of people become trapped on Skek (half of them there for a work team-building day, the other half working on the island itself) when an untimely death sets in motion the next 300+ pages of non-stop story telling that I could not bring myself to put down. Any time my friends and I discuss what we would do in the event of a violent apocalyptic scenario, we always go for supplies first and then an island, I'm now torn on whether or not that's the best decision.

Additionally I want to note that I love the way David includes diverse characters in his books, whether it be a practicing religious character, an LGBT character, or a person of colour, they're regularly included across all of his novels and it's never made out to be anything other than totally normal and okay, which is exactly as it should be. It doesn't feel like he put them in just for sake of it, they're great characters with substance. His books represent a large spectrum of characters and people because that's how any world should be. Not something you find in a lot of novels of this genre, and I think that deserves a little recognition. It's not something that has to be done, but it's done anyways and done correctly.

In closing, One of Us Will Be Dead by Morning is a must read for anyone who loves any of David's other novels, but especially for anyone who loved the Hater series as much as I did. Sometimes a little Battle Royale, all-times a thriller that messes with your head, never knowing who to trust (at least with Zombies you know when someone's gonna turn!). More often than not, authors revisit an old series and it feels like a cash grab and beating a dead horse. This just feels right and like an obvious extension of an already killer series. Pun fully intended.

This was my favorite in the series so far. Cannot wait to finish it!

A little slow to start, but when it picks up, it REALLY picks up!

This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets

Right out of the gate, let me say that this book was a blast. I'd walked past it on several different trips to chapters and the cover / title really caught my eye. I finally picked it up and could not have been more pleased. 

Spoonbenders is a super fun story about a family with special powers. They were The Partridge Family but with talents that didn't make you want to nap, until they have a bad experience on live TV (with a character who is essentially The Amazing Randi whom I adore)>/i> and their showbiz career instantly dies. Fast forward a couple dozen years to the 90's (the nostalgia is real). The Mom has passed away, the Dad is an old fraud, the kids are leading mundane complicated lives, the grandkids are now in the mix, and the government would really like to speak with them.Each chapter switches back and forth between family members and perspectives. It's expertly done. Buddy's abilities make his PoV delightful. It also has just the right amount of references to the decade to set the tone and make it feel right without shoving references and nostalgia down your throat like it's bragging about the 90's instead of telling a story (Which happens a lot in other books).Unexpectedly, and not at all related to story, I think Spoonbenders has also made me wanna paint my living room that shade of blue? So thanks for that.The Telemachus family is awesome and quirky and Daryl's writing is on point. He's hilarious and the characters are all unique and expertly developed. I have zero complaints. What a treat, honestly.

Had a blast reading this. Great stories and some fun local history lessons.